Synopsis
Examines the rise of industrial agriculture and plant biotechnology, the fall of public interest science, and the folly of patenting seeds. The author suggests how green technologies and new approaches to food and farming methods will provide a way out of this growing predicament.
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Review
A must-read for anyone concerned about plants and what the privatization and manipulation of seeds may mean for the future of food. --Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma
"This fine volume provides the details of the way we do things now-and the keys to getting towards a farming future that might actually work."--Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy
"Although the advent of GM foods has been described and criticized before, Uncertain Peril is the most coherent, complete, compelling, and well-written account yet."--Chip Ward, author of Hope's Horizon
"Highly readable . . . Cummings uses her finely tuned storytelling skills to explain why crop diversity is important, who controls commercial seeds, and why it matters that the biotech industry has tried to systematically destroy . . . the age-old right of farmers to save and reproduce their own seeds."--Hope Shand, Grist
"Uncertain Peril gives us passionate and persuasive reasons why we need more public discussion of the risks and benefits of agricultural biotechnology. Cummings never loses sight of the key question: Who decides what foods we eat?"--Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics and What to Eat
"The clearest and most passionate analysis and overview of the biotech seeds debate I've ever encountered."--Pat Mooney, author of Shattering
"I hope everyone reads it!" --John Seabrook, staff writer, the New Yorker
"[Cummings's] persuasive book reminds us all that we can no longer be passive observers to the world around us-our future depends on it. Highly recommended." --Library Journal, starred review
"A persuasive account of a lesser-known but potentially apocalyptic threat to the world's ecology and food supply-the privatization of the Earth's seed stock . . . stark food for thought." --Publishers Weekly
"A meticulous and lucid expose . . . this wake-up call should renew public debate about our food and land use." --Booklist, starred review
About the Author
Claire Hope Cummings is an environmental journalist specializing in stories about the environmental, health, and political implications of how we eat. For six years she produced and hosted a popular weekly public radio show on food and farming in Northern California, including a news segment called "Eater's Digest." She regularly reports on agriculture and the environment for public television in San Francisco. Cummings also writes for periodicals, webzines, and news services. She was an environmental lawyer for 20 years, including four years with the United States Department of Agriculture, then practiced environmental and cultural preservation public interest law. She has farmed in California and in Vietnam. She was a 2001 Food and Society Policy Fellow. Cummings lives in a rural area of Marin County, California. This is her first book.
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